Well, the other factor with a minor is that it will never flip because of influence. Since they have high influence, they tend to stabilize the sector. Conquering the minor destablizes that sector in your favor. On the other hand, homeworlds of major civilization flip fairly easily.
Actually, when I play, I start conquering all the minors as soon as I have all the Economic and Research treaties in place with the other civs, and I have chosen my Ethic. (usually evil) Build the spin control center if you can, so that you can be #1 in Military. When you conquer a minor, you will notice a huge influence shift in your favor - much more than you would expect. Conquer all 8 of them, and you should own over half the map (depending on siz
I tried this on suicidal difficulty - large map; maybe not to the extremes that you did, but with about 7 ships. It paid off immediately, and I still got the research wonder (sensors 3), and Eyes of the Universe (sensors 4). Definitely a useful tool, and I would not consider it an exploit, since the wonder is working as intended - allowing all ships to survey. You could upgrade any of your own ships in the same fashion, just match the components and upgrade with a survey mod
Happens to everyone, I think. It's hard to beat the AI when it comes to finding and grabbing resource nodes. Check the thread on Index of Tricks for ways to get that node for yourself.
[quote who="CaptainYar" reply="8" id="2709168"]Actually I've never done much about it. When colonizing I send my ships to clusters of planets. I may do some extra flying around a sun to see all of the planets befor choosing the best one. But, yes, there have been times that I later find out that i JUST missed something nice. [/quote] Early in the game, you can simply click on the star, and it will tell you how many planets are habitable and already colonized. What you
[quote who="meznaric" reply="3" id="2691655"]How quickly do you actually build the eyes of the universe? [/quote] With tech trading/brokering on, I research to Star Democracy, and then switch to sensors. At level 3 I build or buy the nano-recorders, and at level 4 I build the Eyes of the Universe (usually on the longest term lease).
Defense is much faster and easier to research than offense, so it is useful, even against max weapons. You can upgrade (which also repairs) a ship with a useless defense to a new defense. It the price is too high, just get it on max lease. It makes a big difference in survivabilty of your ships; they gain experience and live to fight even more effectively another day. Low level defense techs are bulky and fairly useless. &nb
Research sensors early and rush buy Eyes of the Universe on the longest lease (also Nano Recorders at level 3 - cheap to buy or build). Eyes of the Universe pays for itself because it helps you find minor civilization and resources. Make several extra survey ships, I wouldn't bother with scouts.
I actually posted this 2 years ago, but noone addressed it seriously because I made a typo and said +8 to speed. Then I edited it (without labeling it as edited), which set off another rampage of posts. Lesson learned. I like speed alot, and like economics and morale, it is helpful the entire game. I prefer it over the others because it also allows you to explore more anomalies which can improve economics and morale. In the long run, I believe that the addition
Scraping them is a good idea generally once you are done with them.
By all economy on a planet, I simply mean a planet with just farms, stock markets (etc), morale structures, possibly making tiny constructors. I agree about the micromanagement - it depends upon how close the game is - if its almost over - I dont' bother. You are right about SCC, it only applies to ships orbiting the one planet. It multiplies the military factor on that ship by something like 10, further enhanced by any military starbases in the area, and of course
Certainly late game woes can be triggered by expensive structures. More often its triggerred by war, transports depleting populations, costs of building on captured planets. Also, when an economic boon event goes away, watch out. Consider converting planets to all economy, its very easy to do. The starport can be idle, or slowly make transports. I also make some large fast transports, sometimes with huge hulls (weapons free = maintenance free). I then set
The Jagged Knife certainly is a valid testing ground. I will try the tiny transport trick if I ever decide to grind through them again.
Ironically, I was playing last night, and just before my final mega invastion the pirates showed up. I captured the remaining enemy planets in one turn, and the game was over. This is an equalizing event. If you get it, you can reload from previous autosave, or choose to play through it. Say goodbye to all of your ships and starbases - fortified trade routes will survive. I would sell or scrap every ship immediately. As mentioned, the only thing you can d
I just use information warfare + spies on any morale structures. If its a tough opponent, I just use a bigger stack of transports. (which can be as many as logistics will allow) Or, if you are Korath, use a spore ship and follow up with a transport to restock population. I try to keep forward planet well populated in the hope that they might flip other planets. More population = more influence. I often rush buy intensive farms for that purpose
[quote]1)Awwwww, c'mon now Plus, if anyone is getting the boot its those darn Torians...I am sick of invading full pop planets[/quote] It is good to have the Torian's in the game for several reasons. 1. They usually expand rapidly, and have lots of techs and BCs to trade, plus low diplomacy 2. Although they may appear formidable, they do poorly in mid to late game. They leave alot of their planets empty. (not even a star port) 3.&n
I disagree. I do not spam and automate miners. I look for a specific minefield near one of my planets. I generally do not build them until I can make Tiny Miners. I make one miner for each asteroid field. If I don't have the required tech, I sentry them (they have no maintenance cost). Once, the mine field has reached ultimate status, I upgrade them to constructors or possibly traders. You can also unload an extra Tiny Colony ship a
Another little trick (more of a strategy I guess), which I must credit to Mumblefratz, is to spread your population out early in the game with the use of a colony ship (or even a double colony module ship). This helps your population and tax base grow more rapidly. Avoid building colony ships at low population planets. (if you do - load them up at a high population planet) Colonys with low populations are major economic drains.
[quote who="wesirby4" reply="61" id="2620415"]Trading Techs in an organized way. If the alien is willing to sell two techs in a family, say Laser I and Laser II, then it will sell them both for the same price as the higher. Once you have Laser II you don't need Laser I for your own ships but you can still sell it to other civs and it was free to you. [/quote] This is great strategy, and can be applied to all 3 weapons and defense trees -